Our club is in the process of supporting a member for a Japan trip. .. I fully admit I was a little jealous, but in a half second I thought, "This is one of the most wonderful people you've ever met... why not support her?"

Super attitude JTucker, Very exciting for her. Hopefully this will start a huge trend of clubs putting there resources behind someone for one of these short term apprenticeship programs.

It could really transform our bonsai quality back home... don't you think?

Owen, Will you be swinging down into So-Cal on your Hiatus ? Are you importing pots as well?

If anyone want to support me, book me in 2013 I'll be back likely mid-December when my Visa expires for a while to deal with some responsabilites I have in America and teach.

Done and done! Let me know if/when you are willing to do a So Cal. trip, can line up a few stops for you. Theres one week out of every month where there is a different club meeting 3-4 out of the 7 days in that week.

Our club is in the process of supporting a member for a Japan trip. It's going to be great because she's in the situation to be able to do it and learn from it and bring knowledge back to us. When I first heard of the club's intention to raise money for her, I fully admit I was a little jealous, but in a half second I thought, "This is one of the most wonderful people you've ever met, and you have a 10-month old and a job you can't take a vacation from to hang out in Japan... why not support her?"

Nathanbs... I think you didn't need to say that you WON'T pitch in. Why not just NOT pitch in? I've heard several times from a GSBF board member that there is a good chunk of free money for young, ambitious folks available, but no one has even petitioned for the money. Check them out. They may be able to help you with your trip.

I know that Peter and Owen will teach people regardless of who supported them or didn't support them... that's the whole idea of this. Those who can get to Japan and learn will come back and teach. We who can't get to Japan will just learn from those that can. If people can give a little monetary support, then fine. If not, then be very thankful for the transmission of knowledge and tell Peter and Owen how much you appreciate them if you're lucky enough to meet them in person.

These guys will teach people regardless of who supported them or not because they will get paid to?? Just like the doctor and the lawyer that went to Med school and law school without donations. I think someone that has chosen Bonsai as their career path differs from the local club member that is going for the experience and will come home and share what he or she learned for free. I respect those who will charge as their information is valuable to me and they made serious sacrificies to learn what they learned. And yes GSBF will give i think $500 to those who apply and qualify.

Big D, I would love to teach in Southern California. I have some friends over here who are talented pot makers. I will buy from them annually. I'm working on importing a container of higher quality "aged" pots at some point. Rodney Clemons in Atlanta is holding the remainder of the Shohin, mame, and kusamono pots I brought back last December.

Nat, I would love to come to teach and see first-hand the bonsai there. A multi-stop trip would be ideal. I will be in America from December 2012 until likely September 2013. Not 100% sure on my "return" date. Thanks.

I hear folks talk about how tough the weather in Tokyo is, it has been lows 70's moderate humidity and pleasant evenings. Must all be a big hype, I have been here 4 days, that makes me expert right? ;<}

JTucker and Big Dave: Who is the girl you guys are sending to Japan? I bet It's Michelle Dougherty. She totally deserves to go and is such a sweet heart. I remember I had a chat with her a while back and we were both drooling at the thought of going to japan to study. Michelle seems very devoted and would repay the favor back a million times. She has been trying to go for a long time. Plus she makes awesome pots. I hope its her you guys are talking about!

I've given some thought to the idea of accepting donations. The little money I have is spent on visiting gardens, bonsai shows, etc then sharing photos on Facebook, writing articles, and now blog posts. www.bonsaiunearthed.com

So, if you choose to donate, great, I will continue doing what I'm doing without donations. If there is ever a specific topic you'd like a post on, I'll see what I can do.

Addressing the side issue: Blogger will put ads on your blog page too, but only if you enable Adsense. And that's up to you. Walter doesn't allow them, I do. The blog owner also has veto over specific ads, or any "adult content" (which I don't allow.)

The draw is that every time a viewer (except the blog owner) clicks on an ad -- even if they close the ad two seconds later -- a happy advertiser pays Google, and the blog owner, a little bit. Not enough to pay the bills, but maybe enough to pay for fertilizer and some wire!